Torch tips



United States Patent Stephen J. Yerkina Glenaliaw, Pennsylvania March 8, 1968 Continuation of application Ser. No. 519,376, Jan. 7, 1966, abandoned. Nov. 17, 1970 Goes Gas inc.

Glenaliaw, Pennsylvania a corporation of Pennsylvania inventor Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee TORCH TIPS 2 Claims, 5 Drawing Flgs.

11.8. C1. 239/4245 lnt. B051) 7/06 Field of Search 239/418,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,941,467 1/1934 Fausek et a1 2,514,777 7/1950 Marra 239/4245 2,655,206 10/1953 Eichelman 2,829,709 4/1958 Mathews 239/4245 2,623,577 12/1952 Cowles 239/424.5X 2,652,105 9/1953 Tjomsland et a1. 239/424,5X

Primary Examiner-M. Henson Wood, Jr. Assistant Examiner-Michael Y. Ma: Attorney-T. H Murray ABSTRACT: Described are torch tips of the type adapted to burn mixtures of fuel gases for heating and cutting metals, characterized in that the tips are formed from two separate integral .pieces which facilitate elimination of much of the drilling required with conventional one-piece tips.

Patented Nov. 17, 1970 INVENTOR.

STEPHEN J. YERKINS roncn "ms CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of copending UQS- Pat. application Ser. No. 519,376, now abandoned filed Jan. 7, 1966.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION tral bore which provides the auxiliary jet and a plurality of As will become apparent, several advantages result from constructing a torch tip in accordance with the'present inven tion. Briefly, thereis a saving in material since the completed torch tip is formed from a smaller amount of material. Further, the material cut away from the starting workpiece during fabrication of the tubular housing and the insert, may

, be reclaimedfor subsequent use. The inlet and outlet gas relatively small bores which are arranged, for example, in a circle about the central bore and provide the aforementioned heating jets. Inasmuch as the central bore has a relatively large diameter, it is easily drilled without any major problems.

The small bores, on the other hand, have a relatively small diameter and therefore present certain problems which the present invention seeks to overcome. For example, the small bores are relatively long, extending substantially the entire length of the torch tip. These bores are drilled in two steps, that is, each small bore is started by drilling, for example, through the back end of the torch tip approximately halfway through the torch tip. Each small bore is completed by drilling through the front end of the torch tip.

The drills used to drill the relatively small bores are relatively long and relatively thin and are rotated at about 10,000

- r.p.m. Therefore, it is not unusual for the drill to break during the drilling operation. When a drill breaks, the incomplete torch tip is discarded since too much time would be involved in extracting the broken drill piece. Consequently, there results a certain amount of discarded workpieces which represents material losses as well as a loss in operators time. Furthermore, the production rate is lowered since the speed of drilling through the workpieces must be slow enough so as not to break the drills.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION forms in exactly the same manner as torch tips of the prior art 1 which are formed from a single piece of material.

In accordance with the present invention, a torch tip is provided comprising a tubular housing having a back end adapted for connection to sources of combustion gases and an insert which is inserted through thefront end of the housing. The insert includes a hub disposed within the front end of the housing and a stem extending through the housing into sealed engagement with the back end of the housing. The insert has a central gas passageway therethrough which provides the aforementioned auxiliary jet. The tubular housing and the stern of the insert cooperate to provide an annular gas passageway. Combustion gases are introduced into the annular gas passageway through conduit means provided in the back end of the housing. The combustion gases are discharged from the annular gas passageway as heating jets, through outlet gas passageways provided in the hub. The front end of the housing is deformed inwardly to secure the insert within the housing as well as to provide a gastight seal between the hub and the housing.

passageways are considerably shorter thereby eliminating substantially entirely all drill breakage and, hence, reducing the number of incompleted workpieces which are discarded. Finally, the production rate is considerably increased because the drilling time is reduced.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1 and 2am isometric views illustrating a torch tip constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. '3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view illustrating a tubular housing and an insert of the torch tip of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view, similar to FIG. 3, illustrating the torch tip of the invention in a partially completed condition; and

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view, similar to FIG. 4, of a completed torch tip of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As is conventional, in the back end 12 there is found a plu- I rality of gas inlet openings 16 and a central gas inlet opening 18. A mixture of fuel gases, such as, oxygen and acetylene, ox-

ygen and hydrogen or the like, is introduced into the gas inlet openings 16 while a pure gas, suchas oxygen, is introduced into the central gas inlet opening 18.

As is conventional, in the front end 14 there is found a plurality of gas outlet openings 20 and a central gas outlet open- 'ing 22. The fuel gas mixture introduced into the gas inlet openings 16 will issue from the gas outlet opening 20 as the aforementioned heating jets. The pure gas introduced into the central gas inlet opening 18 will issue from the central gas outlet opening 22 as the aforementioned auxiliary jet. From its outward appearance, torch tip 10 seems to be a conventional torch tip formed'from a single piece of a suitable copper alloy. However, this is not the case as will now be described.

Referring now to FIG. 3, the torch tip 10 is, in reality, formed from two components, namely, an elongated housing 24 and an elongated insert 26.

The elongated housing 24 consists of a tubular front portion 28 projecting from a relatively thick back wall 30. A plurality of gas inlet passageways 32, corresponding with the gas inlet openings l6, extend axially through the wall 30 and communicate with the interior of the tubular front portion 28. A central gas inlet passageway 34, corresponding with the gas inlet opening 18, extends axially through a cylindrical portion 36 which is formed integrally with the wall 30. The cylindrical gas inlet passageway 34 opens into an axial bore 38 formed in the wall 30.

' The back end 12 of the housing 24 is provided with a radial flange 40fwhich along with the cylindrical portion 36, adapts the back end '12 for connection to a source of fuel gas. It should be noted at this time that the particular configuration of the back end 12 forms no part of the present invention and that the back end 12 may have any one of the many configurations which adapts the torch tip 10 for connection to a source of fuel gas.

The elongated insert 26 consists of a stem 42 which terminates at its front end in an'annular hub 44. The insert 26 is provided with a central gas passageway 46 which extends completely through the insert 26. One end of the central gas passageway 46 corresponds with the gas outlet opening 22. The annular 'hub 44 is provided with a plurality of gas outlet passageways 48 which extend completely therethrough. One end of the gas outlet passageways 48 corresponds with the gas outlet openings 20.

lt should be noted that the length of the gas inlet passageways 32 of the housing 24 and the gas outlet passageways 48 of the insert 26 are relatively short passageways. Consequently, these openings may be rapidly and easily drilled without fear of breaking the drill. Therefore, the number of workpieces which must be discarded due to drill breakage is greatly reduced. Furthermore, their short length decreases the drilling time and consequently increases production.

Referring now to FIG. 4, the insert 26 is introduced into the tubular front portion 28 of the housing 24. The stem 42 of the insert 26, has an outer diameter which is substantially equal to the inner diameter of the axial bore 38 provided in the wall 30. Consequently, the inner end of the stem 42 must be forced into the axial bore 38, the overall arrangement being such that a gastight seal between the outer surface of the stem 42 and the inner surface of the axial bore 38 is provided. The outer diameter of the annular hub 44 is slightly less than the inner diameter of the tubular portion 28 whereby the annular hub 44 will readily fit within the tubular portion 28. As can be seen in FIG. 4, the outer face of the insert 26 is flush with the outer annular face of the tubular front portion 28.

The outer surface of the stem 42, the inner face of the annular hub 44, the inner surface of the tubular portion 28, and the inner end ofthe wall 30, cooperate to define an annular gas passageway 50. The overall arrangement is such that the gas inlet passageways 32 of the wall 30, introduce a gas mixture into the annular gas passageway 50 and the gas mixture is discharged from the annular gas passage 50 through the gas outlet passageways 48 provided in the annular hub 44.

To complete the fabrication of the torch tip 10, the front end 14 of the housing 24 is deformed inwardly to secure the insert 26 within the housing 24 and to provide a gastight seal between the annular hub 44 and the tubular portion 28. The inward deformation of the front portion 14 is preferably accomplished by a swaging process. Prior to swaging the front end 14 and as is conventional, wires (not shown) of a predetermined diameter are inserted into the gas outlet passageways 48 of the annular hub 44 and the central gas passageway 46 of the stem 42. The wires introduced into the passageways 46, 48 allow these passageways to be reduced to a preselected diameter during the swaging process. At the completion of the swaging process, the torch tip will have a tapered front end 51, as illustrated in FIG. 5. If desired, the

front face of the torch tip 10 may be polished to the point where it is impossible to detect that the torch tip 10 is actually formed from two components.

The back end 12 of the torch tip 10 may be connected to two sources of fuel gases, for example, by means of an internally threaded cap 52 which fits over the radial flange 40 and is threaded onto a conduit or adapter head 54 having outer gas passageways 56 communicating with the gas inlet passageways 32 and an inner gas passageway 58 communicating with the central gas inlet passageway 34. As an example, a source, indicated' schematically at 60, may provide a mixture of oxygen and acetylene to the outer passageways 56 of the conduit 54. A secondgas source, indicated schematically at 62, would introduce pure oxygen into the inner gas passageway 58 of the conduit 54..As mentioned above, the particular configuration of the rear portion 12 and the means illustrated by which the torch tip 10 is connected to the gas sources 60, 62 do not form a part of the invention. The mode of connection to the sources 60, 62 is included solely for the purpose of illustration.

Although the invention has been shown in connection with one specific embodiment, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes in form and arrangement of parts may be made to suit requirements without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

lclaim:

1. A two-piece torch tip comprising a first integral member consisting of: a tubular housing open at one end and having at its other end a back wall; a cylindrical portion formed integrally with said back wall and projecting outwardly from the rear face of the back wall; an axial bore formed in said back wall and facing the cavity formed by said housing, said axial bore having a smooth peripheral surface along its entire length and being of shorter length than the thickness of said back wall and cylindrical portion; a central gas passageway of diameter less than said axial bore and connecting the rear of said axial bore to the rear face of said cylindrical portion; a second integral tubular member received through said open end of the tubular housing, said second tubular member having a hub fitted within the open end of said tubular housing and having its peripheral surface in compressional sealing engagement therewith; a stem on the second member extending from said hub and having a portion with a smooth outer peripheral surface extending into, and terminating with, said axial bore formed in the back wall whereby the back wall, said hub, the inner surface of said tubular housing and the outer surface of said stern define an annular passageway, the interior of said second tubular member communicating with the central gas passageway in said cylindrical portion integral with said back wall; passageways in said back wall adapted to communicate fuel' gases into said annular gas passageway; and a plurality of gas outlet passageways formed in said hub and communicating with said annular gas passageway for discharg' ing fuel gases received therein; the entire peripheral surface of said hub on said second integral tubular member that is in compressional sealing engagement with said open end of said tubular housing being of frustroconical shape and of lesser circumference at its end proximate to the front end of said torch tip.

2. The torch tip as defined in claim 1 wherein said second tubular member has a central gas passageway extending therethrough, wherein said first integral member includes a conduit means in said back wall adapted to communicate fuel gases from passageways in an adapter head into said central gas passageway, and wherein the side of said back wall opposite said axial bore is provided with a cylindrical portion adapted to fit into a cooperating bore in said adapter head. 

